


Don't Let Go

by AJ_Pastel_Punk



Series: Monster High: LGBTQ [1]
Category: Monster High
Genre: Attempted Rape/Non-Con, Bisexual Character, Bisexual Female Character, Bisexual Male Character, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/F, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Gay Character, Hurt/Comfort, LGBTQ Character, LGBTQ Themes, Lesbian Character, Lesbian Relationship, M/M, Nonbinary Character, Pansexual Character, Pansexual Female Character, Pansexual Nonbinary Character, Physical Abuse, Platonic Relationships, Sexual Assault, Slow burn (maybe), Underage Drinking, Underage Smoking, gay relationship, no beta we die like men
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-25
Updated: 2021-01-28
Packaged: 2021-03-01 05:13:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con, Underage
Chapters: 9
Words: 11,311
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23299891
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AJ_Pastel_Punk/pseuds/AJ_Pastel_Punk
Summary: Deuce Gorgon has been denying his feelings for far too long.Deuce is ready to come to terms with his sexuality and finally come out to his friends and family, but when a new monster enters his life things get more complicated for the young gorgon. Things are finally starting to look up again when he get's a message from young manster attending a different school...
Relationships: Abbey Bominable/Heath Burns, Cleo de Nile/Deuce Gorgon, Cleo de Nile/Ghoulia Yelps, Deuce Gorgon/Clawd Wolf, Deuce Gorgon/Original Male Character(s), Draculaura/Clawd Wolf, Draculaura/Clawdeen Wolf, Holt Hyde/Frankie Stein, Jackson Jekyll/Frankie Stein, Lagoona Blue/Gillington "Gil" Webber, Twyla/Howleen Wolf
Series: Monster High: LGBTQ [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2026213
Comments: 53
Kudos: 149





	1. Chapter 1

Deuce spent a long time thinking something was wrong with him. When he started to grow up but never started to like the ghouls in his class, when he realized it wasn’t just the one’s in his class. When he found himself looking at the other boys the way they looked at the ghouls.

Medusa would ask her son why he didn’t have a ghoulfriend. No one ever understood why he didn’t date anyone before Cleo. He chalked it up to only having eyes for her. They would believe him, because they remembered the way he looked at her when she was with Clawd. Sometimes pained, sometimes simple adoration, even a hint of jealousy. But it was never Cleo that Deuce found himself looking at.

The relationship between the wolf and mummy had been less about true emotion and more about a status. When it ended it was not for the mummy princess’ love of the gorgon, but her platonic love of the wolf. Despite her crude and vile persona, Cleo truly had a good heart and she could not drag the wolf on when she did not love him. Cleo and Deuce’s relationship could be chalked up as no different,with no real emotion and simply for show. But theirs was to put on a different kind of show.

It wasn’t the school they were trying to make a show for, at least not anymore. It was for their parents. Ramses De Nile would never approve of his daughter’s romantic relations with another ghoul. He wasn’t exactly in favor of Deuce either, but he was still a boy. Deuce doesn’t know what his mother would think, homosexuality was fairly common in ancient Greece, so it wouldn’t be new to her. None of that calmed his nerves, he still couldn't bring himself to tell her. 

Deuce remembered the day he, Cleo, and Ghoulia finally sat down to talk. The day Cleo finally confessed her true feelings. When for the first time Cleo and Deuce admitted to someone other than each other what they’d been trying so hard to deny. In public, at school, nothing changed. Ghoulia and Cleo were best friends, Cleo and Deuce were the ultimate power couple. Behind closed doors things were finally different.

“Okay, this one?” Cleo asked as she held up a sequined gold dress.

“That one’s nice.” Deuce replied as he looked up from his phone.

Cleo sighed, “I need more than that. I must look perfect tonight.”

“Cleo, I’m not good at this stuff, you know that.” Deuce tossed his phone to the side where he sat on Cleo’s bed.

“It doesn’t matter if you are good at it. As my best friend it is your duty to help me decide which outfit makes me the most stunning.” Cleo explained, “You know Deuce, you are not exactly good at the gay best friend thing.”

“Like you have any room to talk. A fem lesbian doesn’t exactly work for the lesbian best friend stereotype.” Deuce teased back, “Maybe we should cut your hair and buy you some flannels.”

“I will cut off my hair and put on one of those unflattering shirts when you learn designer brands and start wearing makeup.” Cleo scoffed and continued looking through more of her dresses, “I need to know which one to wear so Ghoulia can find something that matches.”

Deuce held up the tie he was wearing, “Alright, well, I brought this tie and if we want your dad to think you're going with me you’ll need to match that.”

“Let me see it.” Cleo took the tie from Deuce and began holding it up to a few of her dresses, “This one? Or this one?”

“Which’ll be tighter?” Deuce asked.

Cleo examined the two dressed one last time before holding up a teal and gold sequin dress, “This one will hug my curves the best.”

“Yeah, that one.” Deuce nodded.

Cleo put the tie back around Deuce’s neck, adjusted it properly and fixed his collar. She briefly looked over her heels that would match her dress. Once she’d settled on a pair she texted a picture to her ghoulfriend. Cleo untied the robe she was wearing and slid herself into the dress, accepting Deuce’s help with the zipper.

None of this phased the gorgon, she was still in her bra and panties anyway. He’d seen Cleo completely naked and she’d seen him the same way, multiple times in fact. The first time had been their final attempt to ‘fix’ themselves. Now it was just easier than sending the other one out or moving to a different room. Nothing would come of it anyway.

“What earrings are you going to wear?” Deuce asked, noticing the only jewelry the princess wore to be a golden locket that Ghoulia had given her.

“I might not wear any tonight.” Cleo answered.

“We both know that’s a lie. Besides this is the one thing I’m good at.” Deuce began looking over Cleo’s earring selection, “Try these.” He handed a pair of gold stud earrings with heart shaped teal gems.

“Hmm?” Cleo thought for a moment before taking the earrings, “Perfect.”

“Put ‘em on and let’s get going. You don’t want to be late.” Deuce half-jokingly offered his arm to Cleo. 

Cleo accepted the gesture from her friend and smiled. They walked out to Deuce’s car, with the gorgon opening the passenger side door for his ‘ghoulfriend’. The drive to the restaurant took a little while. In order to avoid being recognised as a familiar face Cleo and Ghoulia never went to local restaurants. 

Cleo double checked her makeup and did any necessary touch ups in the sun visor mirror. By the time she was satisfied with her appearance her ghoulfriend had arrived. Cleo bid Deuce a quick goodbye before joining ghoulia for the evening. Deuce watched the couple walk happily into the restaurant.

Once the ghouls were inside Deuce drove off to find something to do. Unless Cleo texted him otherwise he’d need to drive Cleo home to avoid suspicion from Ramses and Nefera. Being a different city brought different things to explore, different from the same boring spots he’d seen one hundred times in New Salem.

His time was very uneventful, being unable to decide on what to do. Things were much more lively for Deuce once he’d picked up Cleo. The smile on the mummy’s face more than made up for the hour of boredom. The conversation in the car made it even more worth the wait. Cleo went on and on about the evening, smiling brightly the whole time. They reached Cleo’s house and the mummy gave Deuce a friendly kiss on the cheek as a thank you.

“Ew don’t kiss me, I might catch your gay.” Deuce laughed and tried to wipe the lipstick off of his cheek.

“I believe it’s a little late for that, Mr.Gorgon.” Cleo replied, “If anything you gave it to me when you asked me out. Now look at me, I’m stuck being unmeasurably happy with an amazing ghoulfriend. Oh Ra, how will I ever go on.”

Deuce flipped off the princess as she stepped out of the car, “Fuck you, de Nile.”

Cleo faked offense, “How dare you. As if it would bring you any pleasure anyway.”

Deuce waited for Cleo to be in the safety of her home before he drove off. It wasn’t too late when Deuce arrived home. His mother had the porch lights on, illuminating her car in the driveway, confirming for certain that she was home. He walked through the front door and hung his keys on the key rack next to the doorway.

“Hey Mama.” Deuce smiled at his mother, who was sitting on the sofa reading a book.

Medusa looked up from her reading, “Hi Deuce. How was your date?”

“It was fun.” Deuce shrugged.

“What did you do?” Medusa asked.

“We just went to dinner.” Deuce replied, not wanting to lie too much or give any of the details about the date he didn’t even go on.

Medusa raised an eyebrow, seemingly unhappy about the lack of details, “Anything else?”

“No, just dinner.” Deuce replied, sitting on the piano bench to untie his shoes.

“Alright.” Medusa shook her head, she stood up and helped her son undo the tie she knew Cleo had redone properly for him, “When are you going to bring Cleo around again? I love having her over.”

“I don’t know Mama.” Deuce tried to pull away from his mother as she wiped off the remaining lipstick on his cheek.

“Well, do it soon. I like seeing you with the ghoul you love. It’s nice that you found a good ghoul.” Medusa kissed her son’s forehead.

“Yeah, thanks Mama.” Deuce smiled a bit, trying not to let her see the slight pain her words brought him.


	2. Chapter 2

Deuce sat in his dead languages class, letting his mind wander away from whatever Mr.Rotter was teaching at the time. His mind kept going to all of the places he didn’t want it, primarily to a particular wolf. He forced the thought away but it got him thinking, Clawd has no idea he’s gay, no one knows, except for Cleo and Ghoulia. His own mother doesn’t even know, at least not as far as he knows. He could tell her, maybe, eventually...

Deuce was pulled out of his thoughts suddenly when he felt his phone vibrate in his pocket. He glanced up to the front of the room. Once he was certain that Mr.Rotter was not going to notice what he was doing he checked the message.

Jackson had texted him, Deuce is sure that sometimes the normie forgets that not everyone has the same free period as him, ‘My dad just ordered some old horror movie, it’s supposed to be a classic. He said that it’s a good movie. Do you want to come over on Friday and watch it with me?”

Deuce smiled, ‘Too scared to watch it alone?’ He texted back.

‘No. I just thought that you might want to see it.’

‘I’m just messing with ya. I’ll be there’ Deuce sent the text, then returned his phone to his pocket.

Deuce waited out the rest of the class then met up with Cleo at his locker. He waited until he was sure that no one was listening then decided to discuss the things he’d been thinking about with Cleo. When in doubt go to Cleo, she’ll either give you the worst or best advice of your life, but the possibility of the worst always seemed to be worth the risk to Deuce.

“Go ahead and tell her. Knowing Maddy she will understand, I imagine she would even understand our relationship.” Cleo spoke quiet enough for only Deuce to hear.

“I don’t know, I-” Deuce was promptly cut off.

“Deuce, I don’t know why you insist on asking for my opinion if you are going to argue with it.” Cleo rolled her eyes, “I think that you should tell her. If you aren’t happy with my answer then it’s obvious that you already know which one you want.”

“You’re right.” Deuce sighed.

“Aren’t I always?” Cleo smiled.

Deuce and Cleo parted ways, Deuce giving his friend a kiss on the cheek, mostly for show, but partially as a thank you. He got through SKRM practice just fine, but once it was over he found himself coming up with every excuse to not go home. He even accidentally left his phone in the locker room and had to go back for it. But he ran out of excuses and forced himself to drive home.

Deuce sat in his car a few extra minutes when he arrived at his house. He took a deep breath and stepped out of the car. Once he had gathered all of his stuff he walked to the front door. He just kept telling himself that he just needed twenty seconds of courage to get it out, once it was said he would have it off of his chest.

“Mama, I need to tell you something.” Deuce called as he entered the house, setting down his backpack at the door.

Instead of his mother Deuce found a tall gargoyle in his family room. He was understandably confused, there was a strange manster in his home that he’d never seen before and his mother wasn’t anywhere to be seen. Only a moment later Medusa walked back into the room.

“Who is he?” Deuce asked his mother.

Medusa just smiled and placed her hand on the gargoyle's arm, “Deuce, this is Roark, my boyfriend. Roark, this is my son, Deuce.”

“I’ve heard a lot about you Kiddo.” The gargoyle, Roark, tussled Deuce’s snakes and the vipers nipped at his fingers, displeased the the way they were being touched.

“Wish I could say the same.” Deuce replied, calming his snakes though he couldn’t blame them he didn’t particularly like the gargoyle's action either, “Why didn’t you tell me sooner?”

“We haven’t been together that long and I thought that I would wait until things got more serious between us.” Medusa explained.

“What was it that you needed to tell me?” Medusa asked.

“It was nothing. You two can go back to whatever you were doing.” Deuce picked up his backpack and turned down the hall to go to his room.

Deuce closed his bedroom door and slumped against it. He couldn’t do it, of course he couldn’t. That twenty seconds of courage he’d built up to tell her was gone. Something always had to happen that made him chicken out. Why couldn’t he just do it? He could have said that it was private and he didn’t want to discuss it in front of some dude he just met, but he had to say that it was nothing.

“What the fuck is wrong with me?” Deuce asked himself.

The rest of his week would drag on. Friday somehow seemed to be getting further away rather than closer. That was all Deuce needed, he just needed Friday. He needed to go spend time with Jackson and get his mind off of all the stupid shit that raced through his brain.

Every day when he came home Roark would be there, sometimes when his mother wasn’t. Deuce couldn’t pinpoint what it was that he didn’t like exactly, just that he didn’t like Roark. He didn’t know why, they’d only talked that one time when they met so it couldn’t have been something he’d said. Something kept telling him that the feeling was mutual. Maybe both were the look the gargoyle gave him, but at this point Deuce was pretty sure that was just his normal face.

They hadn’t spoken a word to each other since Monday. Then Thursday came and changed that. The day when Roark decided that he had something to say to his ghoulfriend’s son.

Medusa wasn’t home when Deuce got back from SKRM practice. Roark was there, sitting on the sofa, watching something on the tv. Deuce wasn’t fond of him just being at his house when no one else was there but he wasn’t doing any harm.

“Hey Kid.” Roark’s voice startled Deuce a bit. Why was he suddenly saying hi to him?

Deuce just shrugged it off as nothing, “Hey.” He replied.

“These damn snowflakes. They all think they’re so entitled.” The gargoyle scoffed, “You seen this shit? They think they can just decide what gender they are, decide that they want to screw the same gender. Everyone of those fags thinks that they can just go against nature, because they want to be special.”

Deuce bit his lip. He couldn’t force himself to say any of the things he wanted to say. It was like something inside of him was screaming, trying to shout at the manster, tell him how wrong he is but his mouth won’t cooperate. Something else started screaming too, something Deuce had never once wanted back.

Shame. 

For his own thoughts. For the things he believes. For the way that he feels. The shame in who he is had come back screaming. It screamed in his ear that he shouldn’t be the way that he is. That he shouldn’t think about the other boys the way that he does. It screamed and it screamed until Deuce couldn’t take it anymore. 

The screams grew quiet through the night, but they didn’t stop. A faint voice remained the next day. He’d be in class and it would whisper in his ear. Whisper the things he’d worked so hard to push away. Things he had convinced himself weren’t true.

Praise the Gods that Friday had finally come. He needed a break from everything. A break from home. He won’t have to go home. After SKRM he can go straight to Jackson’s house and he won’t have to worry about anything for a while.


	3. Chapter 3

Friday didn’t bring the comfort that Deuce had hoped for. Being with Jackson always cheered Deuce up, his best friend always made things better, but it didn’t fix anything. No matter how much Deuce willed himself to clear his mind, no matter how much he told himself he could relax, his mind continued spinning. Everything still felt wrong.

“Hey, are you okay?” Jackson looked over at his friend in concern.

“Yeah, I’m fine.” Deuce replied.

Jackson wasn’t convinced, he knows his best friend and that is not fine, “Are you sure? Seems like something’s bothering you.”

Deuce shrugged, “My mom got a boyfriend. She didn’t tell me until earlier this week.”

“Is he that bad or something?” Jackson asked.

“Not really, at least I don’t think. He’s just always around.” Deuce sighed and leaned back against the bed, “My mom won’t even be home from work and he’ll be at my house. I don’t know, dude. It’s just weird.”

“Do you think, maybe, it’s just the fact that she has a boyfriend that’s bothering you?” Jackson suggested.

Deuce raised an eyebrow at his friend, “Why would that bother me?”

“Deuce, think about it. How many times has your mom actually had a boyfriend that you can remember? It’s always just been the two of you and now that things are changing you don’t know how to respond.”

Deuce bit his lip, maybe he was just upset that his mom was in a relationship. Was he really jealous about not getting his mom’s attention? Maybe it was just because he wanted his mom to know but not some stranger. Whatever it was he needed to figure it out and trying to hold in his emotions wasn’t helping.

Jackson and Deuce continued to watch the movie. With it being as old as it was it didn’t end up being as scary as either of them had hoped. The lack of gore and jumpscares, along with the crappy attempt at suspense, left Deuce more invested in his thoughts than the movie.

“Jay, can I talk to you about something? Something really personal?” Deuce asked suddenly.

Jackson paused the movie, “Of course.”

“I just really need to get something off of my chest. I tried telling my mom but she was always with Roark and I didn’t want to talk about it with him around.” Deuce swallowed, he couldn’t actually get it out, everything but what he wanted to say was ready to come spilling out but that’s not what he needed.

“Okay, what is it?” Jackson turned all of his attention to the gorgon.

Deuce sighed, “I’m gay.” That was all he could get out at first, just plain and simple.

“But aren’t you-” Jackson began to ask a question but Deuce knew exactly what it was.

“We aren’t really dating. Cleo’s lesbian and doesn’t want her dad to know, so we’re pretending to be together. She’s actually dating Ghoulia.” Deuce explained, “When we first started dating we were trying to fix ourselves, I guess. We thought that maybe if we faked it with each other long enough it would be true. But it didn’t do anything.”

“Oh. So now it’s just a cover?” Jackson tried to get clarification on the situation.

Deuce shrugged, “Yeah, I guess. I wish we didn’t need it, but with Ramses being the way that he is, we didn’t want to risk it.”

“Your mom still doesn’t know?”

Deuce shook his head, “She might have figured it out, but I doubt it. I don’t know how I’m going to tell her or how she’ll react. I’m scared, Jay.” He admitted, “What if it turns out that everything I thought is true?” He couldn’t stop the words now, his thoughts were racing, “What if I am just broken? What if she hates me, if I get kicked out? What if-”

“Will you stop it with the ‘what if’s.” Jackson smacked his friend’s shoulder, “Deuce, nothing’s wrong with you. You aren’t broken. There’s nothing wrong with the way that you are. There is no way that your mom would ever hate you or kick you out, especially not for this. And if she did, mom would let you stay here. Hell, she’d force you to if you tried to decline.”

Deuce laughed a bit at that last part, “Yeah, you’re right. Thanks Jackson.”

“That’s what I’m here for.” Jackson smiled.

“Let’s finish the movie.” Deuce unpaused the movie.

It was nice to have told someone besides Cleo and Ghoulia about his sexualiy. He’d never expected Jackson to hate him for it, but it was still a huge weight off of his shoulders telling his best friend. He hadn’t expected telling someone to help him relax as much as it did.  
Jackson sat at the head of his bed while Deuce was laying at the foot of the bed upside down. They made it through a few levels on their video game uninterrupted. After a few failed attempts at passing the next level Jackson decided to strike up a conversation.

“You know what’s not fair?” The normie asked, “Everyone thinks I’m gay and you’re straight. Isn’t that helpful. Why does the gay one get to be the tall muscular one while I look like a twink?”

Deuce shrugged, “At least Frankie likes you.”

“Frankie’s my girlfriend, and even she thought I was gay at first.”

“That seriously just isn’t fair.” Deuce laughed, “As far as I know Cleo was the only person who knew I was gay without being told.”

“She knew without you telling her?” Jackson was honestly shocked, if Cleo’s gaydar was that good why did she think he was gay?

Deuce nodded, “That’s why she asked me out. When she broke up with Clawd it was because she didn’t want to lie to him anymore. She asked me out because she could be honest with me about why but not feel bad for just using me if I wanted the same thing.”

“Wow. You and Cleo always passed really well for a straight couple.”

“I know. We’re both the opposite of the stereotype.” Deuce agreed, “It’s convenient for keeping a secret but not finding a boyfriend.”

"Neither is pretending to be straight. You may look straight but if you didn't fake being in a relationship with a ghoul you'd have more luck."


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I would just like to start by saying I don't play video games so I'm not sure if any of them even work the way that I described, but I don't want to do the research to find out so...

The more Deuce thought about it the more he realized that Jackson was right, about everything, like usual. Deuce loved helping Cleo out and wasn’t quite ready to come out to anyone else yet, but if he did want to find someone he wouldn’t find anyone while he was ‘dating’ Cleo. What Jackson had said about his home life was even more true.

Deuce hadn’t realized it at first. He really didn’t have anything to hold against Roark, did he? At this point he’s just not used to everything. For as long as Deuce could remember he’d been the only guy in his mom’s life and now she suddenly had a boyfriend. And said boyfriend is around all the time. He’s just so used to being home alone because Medusa works so much, having this guy around is just weird to him.

Deuce tried to build some sort of relationship with the man, but nothing was working. After just over a week of unnoticed efforts he gave up on trying to get to know Roark. Deuce figured that things would be easiest if they just kept to themselves and didn’t really get involved in each other’s lives too much.

That Friday Deuce was relieved to find that he was the only one home after SCRM practice. It was especially nice when Clawd and Gil had called to invite him to play video games online with them, and he wasn’t going to have anyone bothering him. He got so immersed in the game that he almost didn’t notice when Roark walked through the front door. He waved slightly and offered the man a friendly smile before returning to the game.

The manster hadn’t said anything, instead he’d just gone off to do his own thing. Deuce didn’t see him again for another half hour. Even then the teen tried not start a conversation, he didn’t want to deal with any of that after a long day of school and SCRM practice. 

“Gil, duck into that corner, I’ll-” Deuce was cut off by the tv screen suddenly switching to cable, “Hey! What the fuck was that about?”

“I have a show on.” Roark replied, sitting down on the sofa.

Deuce took a deep breath, he didn’t need to be yelling right now,it really wasn’t that big of a deal, “You could have just asked me to turn it off. I was in the middle of a game, I lost all of my stats because I couldn’t save my progress.” 

“You can get ‘em back later!” Roark snapped.

Deuce flinched at the man’s sudden change of tone. He put his controller away so it wouldn’t get broken and returned to his bedroom. Not even five minutes later, Deuce received a call from Gil. As soon as he answered, Gil began talking, not even giving Deuce a chance to speak.

“Where’d you go man? I just got shot. I thought you were going to cover me. Why’d you leave the game?” Gil asked.

“Yeah, sorry dude. My mom’s boyfriend just turned off my game.” Deuce answered plainly.

“Seriously?” Gil honestly couldn’t believe it, the guy didn’t even live there and he was just going to turn off some kid’s game without warning, Deuce isn’t even his kid either, “That sucks. Just text us if you can get back on. We aren’t going anywhere.”

“Sure, Dude. If I ever get the TV back, I will.” Deuce agreed.

“Clawd just told me to tell you that if you want to you can go over to his place for the night. He just got his own system in his room, so you wouldn’t have to worry about his siblings bugging you all night.” Gil explained.

Deuce didn’t know how to respond, he hadn’t had a sleepover with just Clawd in quite a while, he wasn’t sure how things would pan out, “I’ll see if I can. My mom’s still at work and I’m not sure how happy she’d be if I just wasn’t here when she got home.”

“Alright. Just text us when you know.” Gil replied.

Deuce laid on his stomach, playing with his rat to distract himself from Clawd’s texts asking for an answer. He wanted to go hang out with his friends, he really did, but Deuce knew that the werewolf had grown very comfortable with him and he wasn’t sure how well he’d be able to hide his crush. Deuce wasn’t ready to have his sexuality, and certainly not his crush, revealed to his friends, especially Clawd. He’d just really started accepting it himself, there was no way he’d be able to tell anyone else right now..

It wasn’t until he got a text from his mom that he really had to think about going, ‘I’ll be home late tonight. I had to pick up an extra shift for a coworker.’

Deuce didn’t feel like being home alone with Roark, especially not if he had nothing to do, he was really starting to think about just going to Clawds for the night, ‘Clawd invited me over for the night. Can I go?’ He replied to the message.

Medusa texted back very quickly, ‘Sure. Just be home in time to do your chores tomorrow.’

‘I will.’ Deuce agreed.

Deuce sent a text to Clawd saying that he was going to come over. He packed up a bag for the night, filling it with the bare minimum. As nervous as he was to go to Clawd’s he’d rather be there than his house. With everything packed, he rushed out to his car and drove the short distance to the Wolf residence. Deuce parked his car in the Wolf family’s driveway. 

Deuce opened the door and walked into the house. He’d learned a long time ago to just walk in, oftentimes the pups were too loud for anyone to hear a knock on the door, and Harriet Wolf would insist that he was family and didn't need to knock. The gorgon was greeted by the triplets chasing each other through the house, barking about something about a video game.

After saying a quick hello to Clawrk and Harriet, Deuce walked into Clawd’s room. As soon as he opened the door he was tossed the second controller for the wolf’s consel. Deuce fumbled a bit due to his surprise, but still managed to catch the object. Thank the Gods he didn’t drop it, he did not want to have to pay for that, not that Clawd would let him anyway.

“Hey Man.” Clawd smiled.

Deuce could feel his heart pounding a little harder in his chest, “Hey.”

Playing with Gil, and eventually Heath and Jackson, helped to take Deuce’s mind off of the whole crush thing for a while. Of course that didn’t last forever and Deuce had to face the reality of the situation. He was spending the night with his crush, who happens to be straight and has a ghoulfriend, which didn’t make things any easier. The younger manster had glanced away when Clawd removed his shirt, he did not want to be caught staring at the wolf’s abs.

“You okay?” Clawd asked, he’d noticed a while ago that Deuce was acting strange, he was nervous about something.

“Just family stuff.” Deuce technically didn’t lie, entirely.

“At least you get to be away from it for the night. Try to enjoy it.” 

Deuce actually smiled a bit at that, “Yeah, I will.”


	5. Chapter 5

Clawd couldn’t shake the feeling that something else was bothering Deuce. He knew that the gorgon didn’t really like to talk about his problems and he knew that Medusa’s new boyfriend was bugging him, but there was something else. Clawd didn’t know what it was that told him that Deuce was struggling with something else, he just knew. 

Clawd had already gotten dressed when the younger teen finally woke up. When he found the werewolf in grey sweatpants and a black hoodie Deuce knew they were going to be spending the morning outside. He didn’t mind it, he just didn’t want to get up, but didn’t want to leave his friend waiting any longer either.

“You know you could’ve woke me up.” The gorgon grumbled, still half asleep, “You didn’t have t’ wait.” He yawned.

“I’ve seen what happens when people wake you up, I didn’t want my arm bitten off.” Clawd chuckled.

Deuce rolled his eyes, “I’m not that bad.”

“Yeah you are.” Clawd nodded.

“At least I wake up. You sleep like a brick, it's impossible to get you up if you don’t want to wake up.” Deuce replied.

“Just get dressed so we can eat before my siblings eat it all.”

Deuce was too tired to think about much of anything he didn’t even remember getting dressed. In fact he only registered it when he glanced up at a mirror and saw that he was wearing joggers and a t-shirt from the Groan Day album Spookie rather than what he’d worn to bed. Deuce groggily is shoveled his breakfast into his mouth before following Clawd outside. Finally awake, the gorgon joined his friend playing casket ball.

After some time the wind picked up a little and Deuce shivered. He hated the fall. It wasn’t cold enough for an excuse to stay inside but it wasn’t warm enough for his body temperature to stay up. At first Clawd didn’t know why Deuce was cold, he assumed that he wasn’t cold because he’s a werewolf.

“You alright?” Clawd asked.

“It’s fuckin’ freezing.” Deuce hissed, shivering from the chill breeze, “Stupid werewolves with your fur and warm fuckin’ blood.” A small laugh escaped Deuce’s lips.

“Right, I always forget that you’re cold blooded.” Clawd replied, “Do you want my jacket? Would it help at all?”

“A little.” Deuce answered before really processing just what he was being offered.

Clawd handed the sweatshirt to Deuce. The younger boy finally realized just what he’d gotten himself into, he was borrowing his crush’s jacket. He tried not to think about it too much and pulled it on. The sleeves covered a fair amount of his hands and it was a little long on him but that was all fine. Deuce thought it smelled pretty good too, he just hoped it wasn’t creepy to think that.

Clawd found himself staring at the way his sweatshirt hung off of his friend’s frame. He’d never really noticed just how much smaller the other boy was. Sure Clawd knew he was a big monster, but Deuce isn’t exactly small either, he’s at least above average. But Deuce was a good four or five inches shorter than the werewolf. 

“So uh…” Deuce’s voice trailed off slightly, “How are things with Draculaura?”

“I don’t know. I think she wants to break up.” Clawd shrugged, “I’m not sure though, she’s just been acting a little strange ever since Clawdeen came out. I think she likes my sister.”

Deuce regretted asking when he heard Clawd’s response, “Oh, I’m sorry dude.”

“It’s alright. I mean I’m not exactly happy about it, but I think if she likes Clawdeen the. she should get the chance to at least try things with her.” Clawd explained, “How are you and Cleo?” He asked.

“Fine.” Deuce answered, his mind wandered to Cleo and Ghoulia, they were good together and it pained Deuce to watch them try to hide it. Not that he was ready to be out yet.

Clawd raised an eyebrow as if to say ‘I don’t buy that’, “Are you sure, it seems like something’s wrong?”

“Yeah, we’re all good.” Deuce looked down and messed the sleeves of the sweatshirt.

Deuce picked up the casket ball and passed it to his friend, effectively getting them off of the subject. They didn’t spend much more time outside, the gorgon was still cold. Instead the boys spent more time inside playing video games. After a while Deuce checked his phone, realizing that he was already supposed to be home, he was over two hours late.

“Fuck! I need to get home.” Deuce panicked grabbing all of his things and rushing to the door, “Shit, your hoodie. Just give me a second.”

“You can hold on to it. I have like a million anyway.” Clawd insisted.

Deuce was almost caught speeding on the way home, that certainly wouldn’t have helped. When he pulled into his driveway and saw that his mom wasn’t home he was filled with relief. He still rushed inside, tossing his bag into his room. He headed for the kitchen, stopped halfway by a deep voice.

“Where the hell have you been? Your mother had said you were supposed to be home three hours ago.” Roark practically growled.

Deuce didn’t look at the gargoyle, “Why does it matter to you? I can still get my chores done, my mom isn’t even here.”

“Don’t you talk back to me. You need to show me some damn respect.”

“I don’t need to show you shit, respect is earned.” Deuce turned around, glaring at the manster from behind his sunglasses, “And I’m sick of the way you treat me, you’ve done nothing to earn my respect, and yet you still think that I should be giving it to you.”

The gargoyle was fuming, “You watch your damn tone boy!”

“You aren’t my fucking dad!” Deuce snapped.

Deuce felt the sting on his cheek and the room got bright. His sunglasses lay abandoned on the floor and a growing pain shot through the left side of his face just below his eye. He looked up at the manster in shock, even without his sunglasses Roark remained the same. Deuce never wished more that he could make gargoyles into unmoving statues.

“You're right, I ain’t your dad. He left thirteen goddamn years ago cause of you.” Roark yelled, “For your mother’s sake you best be giving me the respect I deserve. I make your mother happy, she doesn’t need to lose two relationships because of filth like you.”

“I’m sorry. I won’t do it again.” Deuce grumbled, picking up his sunglasses and avoiding the manster’s gaze as he walked into the kitchen.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you couldn’t tell Groan Day’s album Spookie is a pun for Green Day’s album Dookie


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took so long. School is a bitch.

Deuce tried to avoid as many people as possible when he walked into the school. He avoided Cleo more than anything, he knew she’d freak out if she saw the bruise. The gorgon practically buried his face into his locker as soon as he possibly could to avoid people saying anything about his face. He jumped, almost hitting his head on the top of his locker when he heard Holt’s voice.

“Hey, Bro.” Holt smiled, his expression dropping when he saw his friend’s face, “Dude, that thing is huge. What the hell happened to your face?” He asked, noticing the purple-brown mark under Deuce’s eye.

“Just fell off my skateboard. It’s not a big deal.” Deuce mumbled.

Holt shook his head, Come one dude, you’ve got a bruise covering half your face. There’s no way that you got that because you fell off your skateboard.” 

Medusa’s voice rang in the back of his mind. He remembered trying to explain the red mark on his face to his mom. Coming up with the excuse that he got it at SKRM practice the day before. She insisted that it wouldn’t still look like that after a day but Deuce stuck with the story, he got it at practice. If he was at home then he got it from SKRM, and if he was at school it was from skateboarding. 

“I’m serious I just crashed. Hit my face on a rail.” Deuce lied.

“Well, are you alright? That thing is nasty as fuck.” Holt winced.

“I’m fine, it’s not that bad.” Deuce insisted, rolling his eyes at the comment.

Holt didn’t seem to believe him, but he didn’t pester the other boy any further. He let Deuce finish putting things into his locker. There was something going on that Deuce wasn’t telling him and Holt knew it. Neither boy said anything, not that either of them knew what to say.

After putting his things away the gorgon managed to catch sight of Clawd down the crowded hallway. Without a second thought Deuce weaved his way through the crowd of people over to the other boy. He avoided the other monsters the best he could while still moving fast enough to catch up to his friend before the first bell rang. 

“Hey!” Deuce waved a little, grabbing Clawd’s attention.

“Yeesh, what happened to your eye? Are you alright?” Clawd asked, the bruise being the first thing he noticed.

“Fell off my skateboard, hit it on a rail at the skatepark. I’m fine.” Deuce answered quickly then pulled out the wolf’s hoodie, “Here’s your jacket back.”

Clawd rolled his eyes a bit, “Seriously man, you can keep it. It’s not a big deal.”

“Really?” Deuce tried not to act flustered but he was certain he was failing miserably.

“Yeah. I didn’t wear it much anyway.” Clawd replied.

Deuce smiled, “Thanks, dude.”

“Are you sure you’re okay? That looks like it hurts. I’m sure I have some pain meds if you want some.” Clawd offered.

Deuce rolled his eyes, apparently no one was going to leave him alone about the bruise, “Seriously I’m fine. It doesn’t hurt anymore anyway.”

“Okay. Well, I’ve gotta get to class. I’ll see you at practice.” Clawd waved.

“See ya.” Deuce called after the werewolf.

Holt wrapped his arm around Deuce’s shoulders, “Aw, you’ve got a crush on Clawd. That’s adorable!” 

“Shut up.” Deuce grumbled, stuffing the sweatshirt back into his bag, then heading to his first class.

“Oh, come on, it’s a little funny.” Holt insisted, chasing after his friend, “You act even more flustered than Jackson does when he’s around Frankie. Have you always been this obvious and I somehow didn’t notice, or is this new? I don’t know how I would have missed that. If you’ve always been this obvious about it I don’t know how no one has figured out that you’re gay, or assumed your bi or something.”

“I don’t know.” Deuce shrugged, “I guess I’ve started to like him more over the last few months or so, but I think it’s always been like this for the most part. I’ve liked him for a few years now.”

Deuce was quite literally pulled out of his conversation when Cleo grabbed his arm and turned him around. She grabbed his face, being careful not to hurt him, and stared directly at the bruise. Her eyes narrowed on the dark mark. Deuce mentally cursed himself for not paying enough attention to see that the ghoul was standing right by the classroom door.

“What happened?” Cleo asked.

“Fell off my skateboard and hit it on a rail.” Deuce lied.

“No you didn’t.” Cleo said blatantly, “Who did this? Why did they-”

Deuce pulled Cleo’s hands away from his face, “No one! It’s not a big deal.”

“We both know that’s a lie.” Cleo replied, crossing her arms over her chest, “Who was it? I swear to Ra I will curse them for an eternity for-”

“I’m fine. Just leave it alone, okay? I can handle myself, Cleo.” Deuce shoved past his friends into the classroom.

“Wow. I know that you’re not his real ghoulfriend and all, but I thought he’d at least tell you if he wouldn’t tell me.” Holt sighed, “I mean we are his best friends.”

Cleo looked up at the boy, shocked, “He told you about that?”

Holt scratched the back of his head nervously, “Well uh, technically he told Jacky-boy, but I sort of overheard. I swear I haven’t told anyone, I ain’t like that. Congratulations to you and your ghoul though, making it work and all.”

“Thank you, I suppose.” Cleo replied, “So he wouldn’t tell you the truth either?”

“Nope. Snakes has got locked that shit up tight.” Holt answered, getting distracted not even a moment later by his ghoul friend, “Frankie Fine! Looking stunning as ever!”

Cleo heard a small moan from behind her, “Oh, Ghoulia! There you are, I was beginning to wonder when you would get here.”

 _“Are you alright? You seem upset.”_ Ghoulia moaned.

Cleo sighed, “Something is going on with Deuce, but he’s refusing to talk about it. I’m just a little worried about him. It’s not like him to lie to me, he tells me everything, mostly. But he’s never kept a secret like this.”

 _“Do you want me to talk to him?”_ Ghoulia offered, “Maybe he just doesn’t want you, Holt, and Jackson to worry.”

“It certainly wouldn’t hurt, but I have a feeling he doesn’t intend on telling anyone what happened.” Cleo replied, “I just don’t understand. Sure he isn’t always the most expressive, but he would normally tell me about these things. Do you think I might have done something, that he doesn’t trust me anymore?”

 _“You know that’s not the case, you’re a good friend to him. You would have known if he just didn’t trust you.”_ Ghoulia insisted, _“I’ll try talking to him, but I don’t know if he’ll want to tell me.”_

Cleo smiled, “Thank you Ghoulia. What would I ever do without you?”


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> By the way I head canon Howleen as non-binary so Howleen is non-binary in this story, okay, got it, good.

“Deuce!” Jackson called out.

Deuce looked up and smiled at his friend, “Hey Jackson.” It had been the first time that he’d seen the normie all week, he’d seen Holt, but Jackson hadn’t made an appearance at all.

“How are you doing?” Jackson asked, not mentioning the now fading bruise on the taller boy’s face.

“I’m good bro. How’re you doing?”

“I’m good. But are you sure? I’m not trying to be rude, but you seem tired.”

“Yeah. I didn’t sleep well last night.”

Jackson laughed nervously, “Oh. Holt made it seem like you’ve been really out of it all week since the bruise thing.”

Deuce rolled his eyes but tried to mask his annoyance by shrugging, “Maybe I got a mild concussion or something from falling off my board. But really I’m fine. Don’t worry about me so much, Jay.”

“I’ll try not to. I just can’t help it. You’re my friend and I want to make sure that you’re okay.” Jackson replied.

The gorgon didn’t say anything after that. What was he supposed to say to that anyway? Jackson’s worries weren’t put to rest when Deuce wouldn’t let him catch up. Was Deuce trying to avoid him now? Did he say something wrong?

Jackson was well aware that his friend wasn’t big on talking about his feelings but he’d never reacted like this before. He was sure that Deuce had never deliberately ignored him before, well, maybe once but if he had Jackson probably known why that time. The normie hoped that he hadn’t upset his friend that badly and that Deuce just hadn’t noticed him trying to catch up. 

“Still want to meet up tomorrow to study for Monday’s test?” Jackson was quick to claim a seat next to the gorgon, deciding he wouldn’t mention anything about how he was doing.

Deuce seemed startled by the question, “Huh? Oh, yeah.Sounds good.”

Jackson wanted to ask if he was mad but decided it would only make things worse if he was, “Great!” 

Something had to be wrong, after first period it was obvious that Deuce was trying to avoid Jackson, even to the point of deliberately being late to a class because he took the long route. It wasn’t just Jackson receiving that treatment. Cleo seemed fed up with the gorgon’s behavior but couldn’t find a time where he stuck around long enough for her to confront him.

“Where is he!” Cleo let out a frustrated sigh.

The other ghouls looked up from their lunches to their friend. But Cleo gave no explanation.

“Where’s who?” Frankie finally asked.

“Deuce. He always sits with me or Clawd, Jackson, Gil, and whoever else it is that sits at that table.” Cleo frowned, “He’s not sitting in either of those places, now is he?”

“I’m sure he just went out for lunch.” Draculaura shrugged.

“Without inviting me, unlikely.” Cleo scoffed.

Lagoona placed her hand on Cleo’s shoulder, “Calm down Cleo. You can always ask him later, love.”

“Are you all not concerned?!” Cleo gasped, “He’s been avoiding me all day. Deuce doesn’t act like this!”

“Now that you mention it, he has been acting a little strange this week. I bet that bruise has something to do with it.” Lagoona replied.

“Whatever it is Deuce will tell you, he tells you everything.” Frankie smiled, hoping to brighten Cleo’s mood.

Even with her best efforts Cleo was unable to find a chance to talk to Deuce. Cleo even tried to beat him to the locker room, only to find that the gorgon had somehow beat her there. She wasn’t used to this, she knew how to get what she wanted even if it was something as small and simple as a conversation.

“I can’t believe this! He’s ignoring me!” Cleo ranted, “I’ve done everything I can think of and he continues to avoid me!”

“Relax Cleo, the ghouls and I can talk to him during practice.” Robecca assured the mummy.

“Yeah, don’t worry love.” Lagoona added, “We can tell him to call you too.”

Cleo sighed, “Oh, thank Ra.”

Luckily the gorgon wasn’t trying to avoid any of the ghouls on the team. Lagoona and Robecca managed to catch up to Deuce during their warm up rather quickly without him trying to get away. Everytime they tried to ask what was going on he would ignore them entirely. When Deuce wouldn’t reply to the ghouls Lagoon decided to skate ahead of him and cut him off.

“What?!” Deuce finally snapped.

“Sorry mate.” Lagoona promptly apologized, “Cleo’s really worried about you. We promised that we’d talk to you. You can’t just ignore her like that.”

“Is there something wrong?” Robecca then asked.

Clawd stopped when he noticed his teammates stopped in the middle of the track, “Hey, what’s going on.”

“It’s nothing Clawd.” Deuce replied.

Lagoona shook her head, “It’s not nothing. We’re just worried about you, mate.”

Clawd looked back to the gorgon, “Deuce?”

“It’s nothing! Can’t you just leave me the fuck alone? Why is everyone so worried about me all of the sudden?” Deuce snapped, “I’ve told you, everything’s fine! Stop fucking worrying about me! I’ll talk to Cleo later, okay?” 

The three teammates were shocked with the boy’s reply, Robecca was the first to respond, “Okay.”

“Sorry. I didn’t mean to yell like that.” Deuce sighed, “Just please stop worrying, I’m okay. Just been a long week.”

No one stopped Deuce when he moved past them to finish his warm up. None of them bought the story Deuce was trying to sell. He never would have reacted like that, they were sure of it. They tried to brush it off, they wanted to believe him, but they couldn’t. Clawd couldn’t help but think that it had something to do with the bruise that had shown up on Monday, it couldn’t have been from a skateboarding accident.

“Clawd?” Harriet spoke up at the dinner table, causing her oldest son’s head to shoot up from his plate, “Are you alright? You’ve hardly touched your dinner.”

Clawd continued pushing the food around on his plate, “I don’t know. Deuce has been acting weird all week. It’s starting to worry me and the guys.” 

“I noticed it too.” Clawdeen agreed, “He showed up to class with a big bruise on Monday, and Cleo was getting really worried during lunch today.”

“Yeah! He was acting weird when he came over Friday too.” Howleen added.

“What’s wrong with Deuce?” Barker asked, his mouth still full of food.

Clawrk sighed “Pups, finish your dinner and go wash up. Then you can start getting ready for bed.”

“But Daaad!” The rest of the pups whined.

“No buts this is a grown up conversation. Go on.” Clawrk motioned out of the dining room. 

The pups reluctantly cleaned off their plates and left the dining room. They trudged their feet and looked back to the older family members, hoping that they would be allowed to stay. Harriet waited until the youngest children were out of the room before continuing the conversation.

“Well, have any of you three tried talking to him?” Harriet asked.

“Yeah, but he won’t tell any of us what’s going on.” Clawd answered, “It’s probably nothing, I’m sure there was no reason for me to worry.”

Clawdeen shook her head, “I’ve known Deuce since the first grade and you’ve known him since second, you know he’s not like this.”

“I think the best thing you two can do is let him know you’re there if something is wrong. You can’t force him to tell you what’s going on if he doesn’t want you to know.” Harriet explained, she knew that the gorgon boy was stubborn and didn’t like to talk much about feelings, “I don’t think Deuce would want us sticking our noses where they don’t belong.”

“If something’s going on then that’s exactly where they belong!” Clawdeen insisted.

“Deuce might not see it that way, especially if it really is nothing.” Harriet replied, “I’m sorry sweetheart, but there isn’t much you can do right now. I hope that it was just an off week for him, but if something else is going on then we will help anyway we can, for now just see what happens when you go back to school on Monday. If this continues you may need to talk to someone about your concerns.”

“You can always invite the kid over too if you want. He’s always welcome.” Clawrk added.


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I know you guys are anxious for the Clawd/Deuce content to really start but apparently all I know how to write is slow burns, if this actually counts as a slow burn.

Deuce rushed down the hall, snatching his backpack off of it’s hook by the front door, “Hey Mama, I’m heading to Jackson’s to study. I should be home around three.” The teen called out while throwing on his shoes.

“Alright, have fun. I’ll be going out with Roark tonight, so you’re on your own for dinner, if you need some cash to buy a pizza or something let me know before I leave.” Medusa replied.

Deuce wasn’t sure if he was glad about that, sure Roark wouldn’t be around, but he’d be alone, “Okay. See you tonight.” He replied, walking out the front door. 

“If I’m already gone then text me when you get back home, no going out tonight while I’m gone!” Medusa called after her son. 

“Yes ma’am!” Deuce called back.

From the time Deuce arrived at Jackson’s house things were mostly uneventful. Heath had apparently decided to join them, which provided a little extra fun to the otherwise boring study session.

Deuce looked down when his phone buzzed with a notification from instagram, ‘Hey cutie.’ the message read. It was a boy around his own age that he’d followed a while back, having thought the other monster was cute himself. He had no idea how he was supposed to reply. Suddenly the studying didn’t seem as bad.

“Everything okay dude?” Heath laughed, noticing the panicked look on the gorgon’s face.

“Uh, yeah. Fine.” Deuce smiled and chuckled nervously.

Jackson looked up at his friend in concern, but decided not to mention anything since he obviously didn’t want Heath to know whatever was going on. Deuce kept checking his phone, never actually opening it, as if he was expecting someone to reach out to him. He seemed off, but not in the same way he had been that week, it was like he was nervous about something, maybe even embarrassed. Jackson waited patiently for Heath to get bored of study so he could find out what was going on.

“This is boring, we should do something else.” Heath complained, “I just got an awesome new game you should come check it out.”

“You don’t have to stay but Deuce and I actually want to pass this test.” Jackson replied.

Deuce actually didn’t feel like studying anymore himself, but he could tell that Jackson wanted him to stay for some reason, “Yeah, I’m gonna finish studying first.”

Heath rolled his eyes, “Fine.”

“You keep checking your phone. What’s going on?” Jackson asked as soon as his cousin was out of sight..

Deuce’s head shot up, “Uh… Well, I kinda followed this guy on instagram and he just sent me a message. He called me cute. I don’t know how I’m supposed to reply to that. I can’t even open the message because I don’t want to leave him on read.” The gorgon rambled, “What am I supposed to do, Jay? I’m not out on my instagram, does he know? How did he find out? Is he messing with me? Does he-”

Jackson laughed, “I’m sure it’ll be fine. He probably does like you.”

“Then what am I supposed to say? How do you reply to that?” Deuce asked, slightly frustrated by the situation.

“Say thanks? I don’t know. I’m the worst person to talk to about this kinda stuff. Maybe ask Cleo.” Jackson suggested, “I know she’s gay too, but she probably knows a lot more about this stuff than either of us.” 

Deuce smiled, “Yeah. How much more do we have to study. I’m so fucking bored.”

“Oh, we finished a long time ago. I just wanted to get Heath to leave.” Jackson replied.

“What?!” 

Jackson laughed, “Sorry De. So who’s this guy that messaged you anyway?”

“His name’s Blake. He goes to that all werewolf school a few towns over.” Deuce explained.

“You’ve really got a thing for werewolves.” Jackson commented.

Deuce huffed, “Okay, but he’s not technically a werewolf. He’s a black shuck, you know the black ghost dogs.”

“Alright, but still.” 

“Damn it. I told my mom I’d be back around three. I’ve gotta get going.” Deuce began gathering his thing, “Thanks for the help studying, see ya Monday dude.”

“See you Monday.” Jackson replied.

Deuce got home just in time to say goodbye to his mom before she left with Roark. As soon as the couple was gone Deuce flopped down onto the sofa and pulled out his phone. He called Cleo, anxiously awaiting her answer.

“Hello?” Cleo answered.

“Cleo, I need your help.” Deuce began, “There’s this really hot guy that I follow on instagram and he messaged me today! I don’t know what I’m supposed to do!”

“Well what did he say? You know what, never mind, maybe I should come over and see this manster and this message for myself.” Cleo stated, Deuce knew he didn't actually have a say in the matter, Cleo would come over whether he wanted her to or not.

“Well, my mom’s gone with Roark and she’s probably not going to be home until tomorrow anyway, so I think we’d be fine.” Deuce sighed, “Do you need me to pick you up or-”

“That would be fantastic, do you think we could pick up Ghoulia as well, I’d like to get her opinion on your little crush.” Cleo replied, already preparing a text for Ghoulia explaining the situation.

“Yeah, that’s fine. But you better not just be using this as an opportunity to make out with your ghoulfriend without people knowing.”

Cleo faked an offended gasp, “I would never do any such thing. I do not know what you are talking about.”

“You would and you have, multiple times.” Deuce laughed, “I’ll pick up Ghoulia then I’ll get you. I’ll be over soon.”

As soon as Cleo got into the gorgon’s car Deuce handed the phone to her, “Really? This is the message that has you all flustered and confused.”

“I’m not good at this kind of stuff. Sure I can fake it with a girl, but I can’t talk to guys.” Deuce replied.

_ “What did he say?” _ Ghoulia asked.

Cleo rolled her eyes at the gorgon, “He simply called Deuce cute and now he’s acting as if it’s the end of the world. He is being quite over dramatic.”

Ghoulia gave her ghoulfriend an unamused look,  _ “You don’t have much room to talk babe.” _

Cleo gasped, “I am not that dramatic.”

“Do you not remember how you reacted when Ghoulia asked you out?” Deuce laughed, parking the car in front of his house.

“Let’s get inside so we can figure out what to do about this manster.” Cleo changed the subject.

Ghoulia and Cleo pulled up Blake’s instagram as soon as soon as they were settled on the sofa. Deuce and Ghoulia could both see from the look on Cleo’s face that she was trying to find a reason to hate the boy but couldn’t seem to find one. In frustration the mummy handed the phone off to her ghoulfriend, who handed it right back to Deuce.

_ “He is cute, for a manster that is.”  _ Ghoulia commented.

Deuce sat down next to the ghouls, “That’s the problem. He’s cute but I don’t know what to do. How am I supposed to talk to this guy?”

“Oh my Ra. You are hopeless. He’s already interested in you and he’s your type.” Cleo spoke up.

Deuce raised an eyebrow at his friend, “My type?”

_ “Tall, muscular, dark hair.” _ Ghoulia explained.

“Okay. You got me there.” Deuce rolled his eyes.

“So, message him back.” Cleo smirked.

“But what am I supposed to say?” Deuce asked.

Cleo sighed, “Just talk to him. He obviously has good taste so he wouldn’t just let you go if you respond being, well, you. No offence.”

“But what if he does?”

“Compliment him back, but don’t be too direct about it. You don’t want him to think that you’re too interested.” Cleo answered.

“Huh?” Deuce had no idea what that meant, sure he trusted Cleo’s judgement on the situation but he didn’t know what she was trying to say.

“Oh, just let me do it.” Cleo took the phone from Deuce and began typing something, before placing it back in the gorgon’s hands, “There.” The mummy smiled proudly, “Just wait, he’ll reply in just a few minutes, I’m sure of it.”


	9. Chapter 9

Clawd woke up Friday morning to a message coming through on his phone. It was from Draculaura. ‘Can I talk to you before school starts? It’s important.’

‘Of course I’ll meet u outside the school <3’ Clawd replied, ‘Hope everything’s alright’

Clawd quickly got ready for school, throwing the last of his homework into his backpack. He rushed out to the kitchen, grabbing himself some breakfast before the hungry mob of wolf pups could get to it. 

“Hey, Clawdeen, I’ve gotta get to school early. Think you and Howleen can find a ride?” Clawd asked when his sister wandered out of her room to get breakfast for herself.

“Yeah, sure. But give me a heads up next time. I can’t just change plans every three seconds.” Clawdeen replied.

“Great! You’re the best!” The older wolf called out as he rushed out the front door.

It didn’t take long for Clawd to reach Monster High and find Draculaura waiting for him on the front steps of the building. There were a few other students but none of them seemed to care about Clawd and Draculaura’s presence and were more concerned with their own matters.

“What is it Draculaura? Is everything alright?” Clawd asked, not sparing a second after he reached his ghoulfriend.

“Well, I… I’m panexual. I know that maybe it isn’t the most important thing to tell you, but you know, I want my to know about these things.” Draculaura forced a small laugh. 

“That’s great Lala, but you came out to me three months ago.” Claws frowned, “What’s really bothering you? I promise you can tell me anything.”

“It’s just…” The vampire sighed, “I think I might like Clawdeen, like more than just one of my ghoul friends.” 

Clawd didn’t know what to say. He’d been suspecting it for a while, and knew that Clawdeen almost definitely felt the same way about Draculaura. Even then he hadn’t been expecting his ghoul friend to tell him this.

“I know that Clawdeen is your sister and we’re best ghoul friends, we have been since forever, but I just… Oh, I don’t know ever since she came out it’s like I want us to be more than just friends.” Draculaura looked down, as if she couldn’t look Clawd in the eyes, “But I’m with you, and I like being with you. I love you, I do. I don’t want anyone to get hurt because of me.”

Clawd grabbed Draculaura’s hands, “You won’t hurt anyone. I promise. No matter what happens. Even if you want to be with my sister, I just want you to be happy. If being with Clawdeen makes you happy then that’s what I want for you.”

“Thank you Clawd. I’m not sure what I want right now. I don’t want to break up, I love you, but…” Draculaura’s voice trailed off.

“Give it some time. You don’t have to know exactly what you’re feeling yet.” Clawd assured her, “No matter what happens, just know that I love you. Okay? Even if it has to be as friends.”

Draculaura got up on her toes and hugged the taller monster, “Oh, Clawd, thank you! You really are the best boyfriend any monster could ever ask for!”

“I love you Draculaura.” Clawd smiled, hugging the vampire back.

“I love you too Clawd.” Draculaura kissed Clawd’s cheek.

Other monsters began pouring into the front lot of the school. Clawd and Draculaura took that as their cue to change the tone of their conversation. The last thing they wanted was for Spectra to find out and spread it throughout the school.

“I don’t want to influence your decision too much, it’s up to you what you want, but I think Clawdeen feels the same way about you.” Clawd told the vampire before they parted ways to go to their classes.

Clawd put his things into his locker and began heading to his first hour class. As he was walking down the hallway he felt someone crash into him, causing him to stumble back a bit. He looked down slightly to find Deuce, completely immersed in his phone.

“Shit, sorry, dude.” Deuce looked up and apologized quickly, immediately returning his gaze to his phone.

“It’s fine.” Clawd replied, ready to continue their conversation, but it seemed Deuce was a little too preoccupied with his phone for that.

Deuce glanced up from his phone one last time, “Well, see ya at practice.”

The smile on the gorgon’s face couldn’t be missed, and it certainly wasn’t missed by Clawd. He hadn’t been able to see Deuce genuinely smile like that in a while. It was nice to see him so happy again. What was he so happy about? He was certain that it probably wasn’t a big deal, but Clawd was still curious.

Deuce, still distracted by his phone, made his way to his first class. He sat down next to Cleo and Ghoulia, finally setting his phone down. Just before the second bell rang Deuce’s phone buzzed on the desk, catching Ghoulia’s attention. The gorgon eagerly flipped his phone over and began typing with a large smile spread across his face. Cleo noticed Deuce’s smile out of the corner of her eye and smiled a little bit herself.

“So, what is it that has got you so happy today?” Cleo asked, as she adjusted her makeup in her compact mirror.

Deuce looked up from his phone in confusion, “Huh? What did you say?”

Cleo sighed in frustration, “You have been grinning at your phone like an absolute idiot all morning and you were a little too eager to answer whoever it is that just messaged you. So, what’s going on? It must be something good if you’re this excited.” 

“Blake and I are going to meet up tonight.” Deuce smiled.

“That’s exciting.” Ghoulia moaned.

Cleo rolled her eyes and slammed the compact closed, “You haven’t even been talking to this manster for a week yet.”

“Okay, and?”

“Isn’t that going a little bit fast? I think that a few days is a little soon for a first date, don’t you?” Cleo commented.

“I’m not saying that he’s going to be my boyfriend or anything, I’m just saying that we’re gonna meet up. We’re just gonna get food and hangout for a bit.” Deuce explained, “It’s good news Cleo. Be happy for me.”

“I am happy for you, but I am also your best friend and as such I must be sceptical of this manster.” Cleo replied, “If you are going to go then you must at least let me choose your outfit, you have horrible taste.”

“Fine. You’re a bitch.” Deuce stuck his tongue out at the mummy.

“I know.” Cleo smirked.


End file.
